


Address to the Nation

by DammitToby



Series: Shield Arm Free [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Expanded Universe, Gen, Multimedia, Other, steve owns a youtube channel but not really, will add tags as necessary - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7395187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DammitToby/pseuds/DammitToby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Description: Containing transcripts and collected data related to the Address to the Nation project.<br/>Additional Info: In which Steve Rogers is told he has something worth saying, so he better damn well say it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Project Title: Address to the Nation
> 
> Welcome! Please watch this video in it’s entirety before commenting.
> 
> Recently, Captain America, Alias Steve Rogers, has been declared an international fugitive for willful non-compliance of the Sokovia Accords. Labelled a vigilante, declared unfit for the term hero, he seeks to balance the story the media has adopted with his true motives. Regardless of how he is framed, he is still Captain America, and his words, without the propaganda and without the editorializing, are worth listening to.
> 
> Thank you.

 

* * *

 

**[** The video opens to Steve Rogers, disheveled. He wears semi-civilian clothes. Definitely casual wear, but lacking any identifying mark or brand. A slightly fitted gray men’s t-shirt. Black jeans. Blue hoodie. He looks weary, his hair spiked into an odd, uneven peak that’s explained when he unconsciously tugs his hand through his hair. In front of him, a mug, presumably for coffee.

The camera is angled so Steve is just to the right of being center shot, his face rotating across the very center as he shifts sitting positions from slumping forward over his mug and resting back. He doesn’t show signs of being tired, there are no dark lines or bloodshot eyes, and yet you get that sense off him. **]**

**Steve:** “I don’t understand. Why record this? Any of this? If we send it to the press, there’s no guarantee they will show it, and whatever they do show they can edit.”

**[Unknown]:** “We’re not sending it to the press. We’re going to post it. Online. On our terms, with no one editing it for us. If we do it right, if we manage to convince a significant number of the viewers to watch it through our site rather than any others, we can get what you want to say out to the most people with the least amount of third party tinkering.”

**Steve:** “I don’t know...”

**[Unknown]:** “Listen, Cap. Nobody trusts press releases anymore. They’re scripted, everyone knows that. They have agendas, they play up and play down certain events for effect. This is different. This is the internet, anyone can post anything they want.”

**[** Steven turns in his chair. He’s free of the table, seemingly fully directed at someone off screen. His elbows are on his knees, hands interlocked so he can rest his chin on them. **]**

**Steve:** “That doesn’t sound like much a foundation for credibility.”

**[Unknown]:** “Yeah, there’s some total bullshit on the internet, but, and this is coming from someone recently graduated and born in the 90′s, it’s also the best basis for finding the truth, and for discovering sincerity.”

**[** Steve glances at the camera. **]**

**[Unknown]:** “It’s also a place where anyone who wants to listen will, and Cap?”

**[** Steve breaks his gaze from the camera to look at the person he’s speaking to. **]**

**[Unknown]:** I think it’s time you started talking to them.”

**Steve:** “Is that why you brought out the camera now?”

**[Unknown]:** “Well, I figured we need an intro. Also, a gag reel is a must in this day and age.”

**[** Steve’s eyes close, a smile breaking out, loose, goofy, mildly embarrassing to the point of being genuine. **]**

**Steve:** “Absolutely not.”

**[Unknown]:** “Bring it up to Natasha. My hands are tied.”

**[** Steve’s eyes open, and he draws himself up in his chair. The angle makes it so his head is to the right and more than a quarter above center screen. His forehead is sheared by the top of the frame. He’s still smiling. **]**

**Steve:** “Alright. It’s worth trying. But no gag reel.”

**[Unknown]:** “It’s honestly out of my hands.”

**[** Clothes shuffle, Steve stands, his right arm raising as if to shake. The camera is shut off before he does. **]**

**[Video Origin: addresstothenation.cap]**

**[Video Caption: _Welcome! Please watch this video in it’s entirety before commenting._**

**_Recently, Captain America, Alias Steve Rogers, has been declared an international fugitive for willful non-compliance of the Sokovia Accords. Labelled a vigilante, declared unfit for the term hero, he seeks to balance the story the media has adopted with his true motives._ **

_**Regardless of how he is framed, he is still Captain America, and his words, without the propaganda and without the editorializing, are worth listening to.** _

_**Thank you.** _ **]**


	2. Video 2a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: Part 1 of Video 2.  
> Additional Info: In which Steve Rogers needs yet more convincing he has something worth saying.

 

* * *

 

**[** This image opens better framed, even, warm lighting, and a nondescript, dark colored background. Steve is center, no dramatic angle or tricks to warp the meaning. He’s here to talk, and the focus will be on him.

He is also nervous, drumming his fingers on the metal table in front of him, occasionally glancing directly at the camera. Faint chatter in the background also catches his eyes, but a second in, when the chatter grows louder, he sits up straighter, eyes clearly locked on an approaching figure. A vague muscle twitch in his shoulders bring them up, he rotates his neck to crack it. **]**

**[Unknown]:** “That was… intimidating. You know this isn’t an interrogation, right?”

**[** Steve smiles, tiny and self-depreciating. **]**

**Steve:** “Sorry. I'm no good at these.”

**[Unknown]:** “Oh yeah? How’d you handle all those press conferences?”

**Steve:** “I handled as few of those as possible, and for good reason. I just… freeze up. It usually ends with me saying the first answer that comes to mind, which is never a good thing. Fury knew better. So did Tony.”

**[Unknown]:** “You know, I was in the Triskelion the day it fell.”

**Steve:** “I know.”

**[Unknown]:** “I heard your speech. If that was the first thing that came to mind, then I think you do just fine.”

**Steve:** “That? That was different. I was speaking to agents. People who agreed to uphold what SHIELD stood for.”

**[Unknown]:** “I was a tech, Steve. No field training, no field experience. I’d never been asked to lay down my life before then, and I’m glad the one who asked me to was you. I’m not sure I would have risked anything for anyone else.”

**[** Steve’s eyes travel around the room. **]**

**Steve:** “Sorry.”

**[Unknown]:** “Don’t be. I chose this, and I chose it because you gave me perspective. That’s what this is about. Giving the world perspective, because right now? It looks like you’re a hit and run guy. Like you’ve abandoned them to a world scarier than ever.”

**Steve:** “Okay. I’m ready.”

**[Unknown]:** “The camera’s already on.”

**Steve:** “What? Really? This whole time?”

**[** Steve turns his head, laughing. **]**

**[Unknown]:** “Yeah, this whole time.”

**Steve:** “You’re not going to post that, are you?”

**[Unknown]:** “I’m thinking about it.”

**[** More laughter. The video cuts to black for a second. **]**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of a project I started to expand writing style and type, inspired by Captain America: Civil War, namely Steve inability to connect with the people he claims to serve.
> 
> You can see this and other verse info at shieldarmfree.tumblr.com.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Prompts for the collection? My box is always open: shieldarmfree.tumblr.com/ask


	3. Video 2b

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: Part 2 of Video 2.  
> Additional Info: In which Steve Rogers ties his history with his decision on the Accords.

 

* * *

 

**[** Steve has a mug in front of him when the black cuts back to image. No other immediately discernible changes are present, not in lighting and not in posture, though Steve does have his eyes lowered and his lips pressed into the knuckle of his right index finger. **]**

 **Steve:** “I’ve been Captain America for most people’s lifetimes, but in my own? It’s been seven years, nearly eight. Sometimes that’s hard for me to talk around. When people ask me how I would react to something like the Vietnam War, or the Kennedy assignations, or Watergate, or school shootings, or the Cold War, The truth is, I don’t know how to answer them. A lot of the morals and beliefs people seem to assume I hold were ones I held over three years serving in World War II fighting HYDRA. Others were based on my understanding of the world at the time, and the rest were just comics.”

 **[** Steve chuckles. **]**

 **Steve:** “You won’t believe how many times I get asked if I _actually_ socked Hitler in the jaw.“

 **[Unknown]:** “Did you?”

 **Steve:** “Oh no. Around the time the infantry marched up to Berlin, I had eyes on more remote HYDRA facilities. As much as I’d like to say I got the honor, all of that was based on a skit before my actual service began.”

 **[Unknown]:** “Sorry, sorry. Had to ask for the record. You were saying?”

 **Steve:** “What was I saying? Oh. Right. The point is, when I’m asked what I would do differently than say, Peggy, or Howard, or whoever was president the year so and so did this, that, and whoever, the truth is, I don’t know. Those decisions were made by the people who lived and grew beyond 1944. They made them after watching a changing world. How can I judge them for that? I was literally frozen in place, they had to live with what came after.”

 **[** Cut. Steve holds a different posture when image replaces the black: he’s hunched on his elbows, his left palm cradling his right fist. **]**

 **Steve:** “Yes, the Accords are about accountability, but they are a contract as well. They bind those who sign to a UN taskforce, so yes. We’re accountable, but we’re accountable to people who regularly sign off on bombings and strategic strikes, not to the people who bear casualties. It wouldn’t have made any future loss of life mean more, it was just there to consolidate force to a political agenda.”

 **[** Cut. Steve drinks from his mug, then sets it aside, the clack of ceramic on hard plastic definitive. **]**

 **Steve:** “I was a soldier for less time than I was anything else, but yes, the mindset does stick with you. That doesn’t mean civilian casualties are easy to bear. In 1944, we knew where the warzone boundaries were, and any civilian death was expected. Now? There are bad people who know they’re game is strengthened by creating temporary warzones in any concentrated civilian setting. Every innocent life lost in the process is a strike against us, there’s no way for the bad guy to lose. Is that right and just? No. But the bad guy doesn’t care, and all we can do is stop them from taking the next life on their list.”

 **[** Long pause. Steve swallows. For a split second he makes eye contact with the camera. **]**

 **Steve:** “We don’t always do that. I’m sorry.”

 **[** Cut. **]**

**[Video posted: addresstothenation.cap]**

**[Video Caption: _Welcome! Please watch this video in it’s entirety before commenting._**

**_Recently, Captain America, Alias Steve Rogers, has been declared an international fugitive for willful non-compliance of the Sokovia Accords. Labelled a vigilante, declared unfit for the term hero, he seeks to balance the story the media has adopted with his true motives._ **

_**Regardless of how he is framed, he is still Captain America, and his words, without the propaganda and without the editorializing, are worth listening to.** _

_**Thank you**_.

_**Questions for Cap?[They can be directed here](http://shieldarmfree.tumblr.com/ask)** _ **.]**


	4. Interlude 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: Trending topics after Address to the Nation's Video 1 and Video 2 go viral.  
> Additional Info: [blank]

[ Trending: #NotYourWarzone ]

[ Trending: Captain America videos attempt to justify civilian casualties. ]

[ Trending: Think Piece: Is it time to retire the Avengers? ]

[ Trending: America’s bleak future: Is Tony Stark our only hero? ]


	5. Video 3a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: Part 1 of Video 3.  
> Additional Info: Natasha made me post it, Steve.

 

* * *

 

**[** Steve is wearing dark colors: navy blue, same material, same fit. When the shot opens, something has just caught his attention, and he’s leaning to his left, peering around the camera. **]**

 **Steve:** “Is that Sam?”

 **Sam (off camera):** “No. Yes. Listen, pretend I’m not here, and you do what you do.”

 **[** A smile has broken out across Steve’s face, his gaze shifts right, to another person. **]**

 **[Unknown]:** “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m the only non-superhero in this room. What am I supposed to do about it?”

 **Steve:** “You didn’t say there’d be an audience.”

 **Sam:** “Come on, Steve. Who could resist?”

 **Steve:** “Next you’re going to tell me Clint’s in here, too.”

 **Clint (off screen):** “Awww. You said you wouldn’t tell.”

[ Steve looks up, definitely high enough to be ceiling level, lingering smile fading into confusion, brow furrowed. Cut. **]**

 **Steve:** “Okay.”

 **[** His face is buried in one hand, the other firmly pressed on the table surface. He’s trying to catch his breath, shoulders shaking, but he can’t stop laughing. **]**

 **Steve:** “Okay, I’m good.”

 **[** His hand lowers, but he can’t contain his smile and lets out another barking laugh, melting into the table. **]**

 **Sam:** “Man down. Man down.”

 **Clint:** “Well, folks, there you have it. Captain America. indestructible man of honor, completely unable to say the word fear.”

 **[** Cut. **]**

 **Steve:** “Uh. Right. Did that answer your question? I think I did. Didn’t I?”

 **[** Steve’s eye flick from one person to the next, slowly starting to shake his head. **]**

 **Steve:** “No?”

 **[Unknown]:** “No.”

 **Sam:** “Definitely not.”

 **[** Cut. **]**

 **Steve:** “No, really, it’s not the fore-”

 **[** He stops, tongue darting out to lick dry lips, eyes squeezing shut. **]**

 **Steve:** “- _fear_. I meant fear.”

 **[** He takes a deep breath. **]**

 **Clint:** “Tell it to me straight, Cap, am I distracting you? Can you handle having me in the room, or do I need to go?”

 **[** Steve looks up, flush rising, but entirely ready to answer that. **]**

 **Sam:** “What are you talking about? This is normally, he’s always like this when we hang.”

 **Clint:** “Did you just say ‘hang’?”

 **[** Steve’s open mouth curves into a smile, he drops his face into his hand, his shoulders shaking. His ears are red. **]**

 **[** Cut. **]**

 **[** Steve’s forehead rests on his crossed arms, he’s sobbing with laughter. **]**

 **Sam:** “I think we broke Cap.”

 **[** Cut screen. In the middle of the screen: END: HERDING CATS **]**


	6. Video 3b

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: Part 2 of Video 3.  
> Additional Info: In which Steve discusses the Accords.

 

* * *

 

**[** Steve is composed, his right fist in his left palm, lips pressed to his knuckle. Before he speaks, he leans back a little, right arm falling to the table. **]**

 **Steve:** “It was motivated by fear. That’s the real dealbreaker for me. Fear can sound reasonable, anyone can make a thousand justifications for it, and that’s what the Sokovia Accords were. Reasonable. Justifiable. Placed in action by well-meaning people with the intent to minimize unnecessary death in crisis. At least, that’s one way to look at it. Another would be weapons acquisition.”

 **[** He presses his fingers on his left temple, eyes traveling slowly across the table. Occasionally he looks up to make eye contact. **]**

 **Steve:** “The Accords would limit our involvement in any major situation, police resources, track our whereabouts. It would require us to check in, seek approval for risky action, which is ridiculous because in the context of my line of work, what doesn’t constitute as _risky action_. There are entire sections outlining the storage of enhanced humans classified as dangerous.”

 **[** He grows more agitated as he speaks, eyes cold. **]**

 **Steve:** “There’s a shoot to kill clause. Another where active restraints can be used on an enhanced to prevent them from responding to a situation. Another would require everything recovered from enemies to be turned over for possible research or destruction.”

 **[** He takes a breath, having talked his voice ragged. Sam’s hand is briefly on screen as he passes Steve a water bottle. There’s a brief pause where he thanks Sam, then takes a long drink. **]**

 **Steve:** “Which all sounds _reasonable._ I was almost convinced, until they ordered the death of my best friend without investigation or trial. Fear does that, too. Cause you to act immediately and with extreme force.”

 **[Unknown]:** “You could argue we need to start somewhere.”

 **Steve:** “Sure. That doesn’t mean I have to agree to what we start with.”

 **[** Cut. **]**

 **Steve:** “Even if I did sign, even if Helmut Zemo hadn’t set off that bomb outside the UN, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. I would have broken the Accords eventually. They were designed to restore a feeling of control back into the public, but there’s no predicting disaster, no preventing crisis. And when those two come around, someone will always be willing to take action and protect as many people as we can, regardless of who they are. Where are the clauses for that in the Accords?”

 **[** Cut. **]**

 **[Unknown]:** “Is there anything you’d like to say about the trending tag #NotYourWarzone?” **  
**

 **Steve:** “They’re right.”

 **[** Silence for a few minutes. **]**

 **[Unknown]:** “Anything else?”

 **Steve:** “I go where I’m needed. Doesn’t always mean I’m wanted. I can live with that if it means saving lives.”

 **[** Cut. **]**


	7. [ News Report: July 4, 2016 ]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Description: A sample of live reporting done for a major news network on July 4, 2016.  
> Additional Info: This was a bitch to negotiate rights to, and I don't know what possessed you to ask me to post it, but if it's all the same to you, regardless of the content, Happy Birthday, Cap.  
> Hang in there.

**[** Feed pans over a solid wall of people in red, the mass dappled by shade and texture, but undoubtably red. It’s dark, possibly in an unlit hall, most are holding black candles. Cut to another clip shot from a moving vehicle of men and women, also in red, flooding the sidewalk, marching, also with candles. **]**

“Coming to you tonight, live, protestors line the streets of the yearly public venue in Washington. The National Mall, usually lively at this time of year with families coming together to celebrate the Nation’s founding, tonight is silent as many of those same families have chosen to don solid red and hold a vigil instead. Even more impressive is that this massive protest, said to be in response to the huge number of unavenged civilian casualties due to super human incidents, has no formal organizer.

 **[** Cut to another clip, a young woman stands in a semi-circle of others with red shirts. Her own is regular cotton t-shirt, familiar, easy to get. She brushes blonde hair from her face, her audio slightly garbled by wind and by the soft hymn being sung in the background. **]**

 **[** Woman **]:** “The discussion has been going on online for months, then someone posted the call to protest. Someone else suggested it wasn’t right to celebrate America’s birthday when so many of our fellow nations were suffering. The idea went up,typically Cap is symbolized in red, white, and blue. Today we will not celebrate some past ideal, we’ll celebrate him as what he’s come to symbolize in the present: power soaked in innocent blood.”

 **[** Cut to the reporter, still standing in the hall. A solid line of protesters has formed behind her, shoulder to shoulder, each cradling a candle and staring into the camera. **]**

“Talks of cancelling the display entirely to respect the message of the viewers were considered. Other concerns about the weather, which is currently cloudy with threats of downpour, also surfaced.”

“Casualties from multiple countries and incidents have been widely reported over the past 8 years since Tony Stark announced himself as Iron Man, both here at home and abroad on foreign soil, notably in New York, Sokovia, Lagos, and Vienna. The latter three locations being notable as the inspiration for action against the super human organization known as the Avengers, Vienna being the location of a fatal bombing targeted at the ratification of the Sokovia Accords, the first measure in controlling super human activity in hopes of curbing the civilian death toll. Captain America, Steve Rogers, was not present at the panel, and was on record as refusing to sign such measures. He is believed to lead the faction of super humans against such measures. Rogers was born this day in 1918. Today would mark his 98th birthday-”

 **[** The reporter stops. Dark streaks cut the image vertically. The shoulders of the protestors bear dark spots, some dark vertical slashes down their chest. Candles flicker. One goes out. The reporter holds one hand palm upward, carefully tilting her head, eyes skyward, her lips part in silent surprise, then close. She looks back at the camera, the dark streaks in the background becoming more prominent. Half the candles behind her go out, the protestor’s shirts darker. **]**

“It appears to be the beginning of a downpour. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe this means the fireworks display at the National Mall is officially cancelled.”

 **[** She hesitates. The sound of rain slapping pavement picks up, all but the hems of the protestors shirts are dark with rain water, the last candle goes out behind her. **]**

“God bless America.”

 **[** Cut. **]**

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of a project I started to expand writing style and type, inspired by Captain America: Civil War, namely Steve inability to connect with the people he claims to serve.
> 
> You can see this and other verse info at shieldarmfree.tumblr.com.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Prompts for the collection? My box is always open: shieldarmfree.tumblr.com/ask


End file.
